Speech About Bullying

Thanks again to everyone who reads this, and MEGA THANKS to anyone who takes something away from it in the end of things. :) For those of you who are reading it for the first time, I hope you like it and that it teaches you something. :)

Okay, I want you to close your eyes and raise your hand if you’ve ever been bullied. (pause) Okay, now open your eyes. Now I want you to close your eyes and raise your hand if you’ve ever bullied someone else. (pause) Okay, now open your eyes. See? It happens every single day in those halls, in these rooms. We all see, and know it’s there; do it, even. And instead of banding together, we all take it upon ourselves to tear each other down. And for what? Jealousy? Popularity? And the whole time, we pretend we don’t care about anything that goes on around us. Yet we all say and do things that we care about later. Things we regret later. Things that make every single one of us a bully, in one way or another. Whether it’s gossiping in the halls, or a post on Facebook, or pushing someone around, we all do it. And all of us have been a victim of bullying too. We all know how it feels to have our emotional teeth kicked in so far that we choke on that shred of our dignity. That feeling you get in your gut and you start telling yourself that you just can’t take it anymore. We’ve all had those days that feel like you’re walking on tight rope, barely holding on with your toes, and you’re terrified of one little slip because you don’t have anyone left on your side. Your safety net is gone, and your one slip away from being a stain on the floor. And because of that fear, we put someone else down, and make them feel that way. Because as long as it’s not us, it’s okay right? As long as it’s someone else taking the heat, it’s cool right? Now I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not perfect. I do it too. And I’ve felt that way too many times to count. But eventually, we all have to stand up for ourselves and others. Because you’re not alone. All it takes is a tiny spark to start a wild fire. All it takes is one person to stand up to a bully. And you won’t be alone. There will be other kids on your side. We don’t have to feel that way. Not ever. All you have to do is say something. It doesn’t have to be long, or dramatic, or even more than a few words. You could simply tell them to stop. And we all know why we don’t say anything. Who cares, right? Not our problem, right? Wrong. Its everyone’s problem. Look, all I’m trying to say is that we don’t have to feel that way and we don’t need to make everyone else feel that way either. All you have to do is say something. High school doesn’t have to be so hard to go through. There will be kids on your side. All you have to do is take a chance and stand up for yourself. All you have to do is say stop.